I See Darkness
by ncistatelover
Summary: It's been 5 years since the death of Tony's partner, and many people have managed to get over her sudden departure. However, a new case opens up an old wound, and a stunning revelation is made. Perhaps Caitlin Todd isn't so dead after all...
1. The Present

Tony's eyes darted frantically around the room, his fingers trembling, the gun threatening to slip from his grasp. A single drop of sweat ran down his forehead and dripped onto his own outstretched arm- onto the shirt that wasn't his, which was too big in the body and too short in the sleeves.

His best friends, his teammates, his family, were being restrained by various people that were each the size of human giants, who had arms of steel and unbreakable grips. Even the Mossad ninja was utterly still, hold motionless in an iron-tight hold. Their own weapons had been dropped onto the beige carpet of the prison of an apartment, while the one in his hand was pointed at the woman who for years, he'd believed to be dead. However, despite the fact that there was a sig being pointed directly at her, she didn't flinch, didn't look scared. In fact, she appeared to be completely calm- because she trusted him. She always had.

He felt his captor walk up behind him and place a hand on his quivering shoulder sharply, however, he didn't avert his eyes from the woman standing in front of him. The woman whose hazel eyes were bright as day even though he'd watched the life drain out of them; the woman whose chocolate brown hair was fresh and fluffy even though he'd seen it become stained with her own blood. The corrupted girl leant up and whispered softly enough to be intimidating, but loud enough for the whole room to hear her.

"Do it Agent DiNozzo," she said, her breath hot on his ear, "you know that she has to go. It's either her or all of them," she gestured to his teammates, who watched him blankly. They knew that if they made a scene, it would just get worse. He wondered where it'd gone wrong; when the innocent little kid who'd helped them with her incredible sense of hearing despite her complete blindness had turned into this insane, corrupted young woman. She couldn't be helped- he'd seen the things that she'd done while laughing the whole way through doing them. He gulped, trying to figure out if there was a way that he could use her lack of eyesight to his advantage. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gibbs signalling to him, clearly not quite as stuck as he looked.

Tony placed his finger on the trigger of the sig and closed his eyes briefly nodding his head as he did so, absorbing what he had to do.

"I love you Kate," he whispered, before pulling it.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! This is the first chapter of my new fic I See Darkness. It was originally called Seeing Darkness, but I changed the title. It has sort of a flashback theme- this chapter is set in the present, while the next few chapters will be set in the few days leading up to it. I hope you like it!**

 **Louise :)**


	2. 5 Days Before

**5 days earlier…**

Though the light Spring drizzle was soaking his suit that he would have to wear for the whole day, Anthony DiNozzo made no effort to shelter from it or put on a waterproof jacket as he stalked almost soundlessly through the cemetery gates, as he had on this very week for the past 5 years.

Even the birds were quite as his footsteps crunched on the gravel beneath his feet- as if sound was completely prohibited in this secluded resting place. No wind hustled in the trees, no cars sounded on the nearby streets, not a single drop of rain sounded as it hit the ground as he passed through, clutching _Martha's Garden_ blooms in one hand and something else in the other tightly.

He wasn't used to visiting this early; usually he came on the day that _It_ had happened, once he'd come the day after, when he honestly couldn't get out of work that day. He'd never been 5 days early before, but he could feel something brewing, and though he wasn't on any big cases yet, he could feel one about to smack him right in the face. Just in case he was tied up on the actual day, he'd chosen to visit her early- better to be too early than too late. Not that she was going anywhere.

He took a deep breath as he approached her; though he'd been here at least 5 times before, it didn't get easier. It was supposed to, with time, but it didn't. He'd always felt this weight on his chest- guilt: he could've saved her; _should've_ saved her. Instead he'd watched helplessly as she'd gone down right in front of his eyes; the woman he'd dreamed of having, her blood splattering onto his face as her features slackened and her body went limp, every ounce of life slipping from her in a split second. He knelt down in front of her gravestone, replaced the limp roses that someone had put there before him (Abby, no doubt) with the new ones and ran his fingers through his hair, which was sticking to his head in an unflattering manner.

"Hi Kate," he whispered, his almost silent voice seeming loud and empty in the soundless cemetery. The drizzle immediately seemed to die down and the sun projected golden beams of light across the endless rows of headstones. It was as if she could hear him.

"5 years. Long time no see, eh? Well, almost: it will be in 5 days." Tony sunk to his knees on the sodden ground before the stone, not caring if the mud stained his trousers. He tenderly traced the letters of her name on the stone, the name that had been near forgotten by everyone, but he strived to remember every single day. It was the name that resounded in his head when he woke up, the one that he heard whenever he looked over at her desk, the one that echoed even when he was sleeping in another woman's bed.

"They same that it's supposed to get easier with time, but that's a load of crap," he scorned, "it doesn't get any better, no matter what I do. It's been 5 years, and I'm still not over you, or whatever it was we had, or what we could've been. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't miss you, regardless of how we fought at times."

Something rustled in a nearby clump of trees, and Tony's head jerked to look over at the copse of greenery. He saw nothing, but would swear on his life at that moment that something was watching him, hearing his every word, observing his every movement. However, he didn't get up to go and investigate- if there was someone there, which there probably wasn't, they would have to wait until he'd finished his one way conversation with his partner.

"If I could go back in time and tell you how I felt, and still feel today, I would. I would go back in exchange for anything, would do it in a heartbeat. I would give up my life, just to have spent a day with you as your guy, because you may've labelled me as a playboy, but even playboys must have that one person- that one person that is one in a million, that person that no one can replace, that one person that they love with all of their hearts."

Hurriedly, he placed the object that he had been holding at the foot of the headstone. It was a photo frame, holding a picture of the two of them from their assignment to Paraguay. Some guy had offered to take a photo of them in the streets, thinking that they were a couple on a simple holiday. For a laugh, they hadn't refused, and had posed willingly for the photograph, smiles wide, skin tanned, eyes bright. It was one of the few photos that he had of her, and he treasured it. This was a mere copy of the original, which he kept in a frame back home.

Sighing, he stood up, not bothering to check the mysterious rustling in the trees. It had probably been an animal or bird, he thought. "I love you Kate, always."

He didn't notice one bit as a female figure stepped out of the trees, snapping pictures of him with a wicked grin on her face. He didn't notice her pulling out her cell phone and calling a couple of her colleagues, didn't notice anything as he strode back out through the gates.


	3. 4 Days Before

**4 days earlier…**

"Morning Probie, Zee-vah, Boss," Tony grinned as he entered the squad room at 7:30 the following morning and slumped into the seat behind his desk with a smile, starting up his computer as he did so.

"Morning Tony," McGee and Ziva chorused without looking up from old case reports that they were filing.

"Grab your gear," Gibbs demanded without giving his agent a proper welcome. He looked incredibly serious, more so than usual, and mad- his expression threatening and stony. "There's been a security breach and a blood bath."

"Where?" Ziva enquired curiously, noticing that Gibbs was more agitated than usual.

"The Pentagon."

Tony, Tim and Ziva gawped at each other. The Pentagon? That was one of the most secure buildings in possibly the world- it must have taken someone extremely experienced and dangerous to breach it. This situation wasn't to be taken lightly.

"DiNozzo, David, McGee," Gibbs shouted from where he was waiting for the elevator, "stop hanging around! This case isn't going to solve itself!"

* * *

20 minutes later, the team found themselves stalking down the endless hallways of the Pentagon, investigation gear in hand, Gibbs leading the way behind a guide with a steely glare on his face. Many furious and curious Pentagon personnel stared them down as they walked, but they took no notice. The team were used to watchers.

Another 2 minutes passed before the team arrived outside of a small-ish office. Gibbs, Tony and McGee came to an abrupt stop as the door was opened and they observed the space; the room looked strangely familiar to them, as if they'd been there before.

"I feel like I've been here before," McGee muttered.

"That's because you have, years ago," Gibbs replied, taking a picture of the original entrance to the room.

"This used to be the office of Captain Mike Watson," their guide stated, "who was brought down by NCIS for stealing government funds and other charges."

"Captain Watson," Tony mused, "the man who had his own wife and blind daughter kidnapped just so he could get the money."

Gibbs ignored his agents practically useless input and stepped inside the office. It looked mostly identical to the last time he'd set foot in it, even though it had changed ownership. Well, identical except for the fact that there were various body parts, destructed limbs and blood lining the walls, covering the desk and scattered on the floor.

"Get to work," Gibbs began, "you know the drill and times short, so make it quick."

The team spread out around the scene, disgustedly dodging around bloody tissue and organs so that they could do their jobs. Ducky and Jimmy knelt down beside these various parts, packing them up individually after examining them thoroughly and having Ziva take a picture. Once they were done on one part, they moved swiftly onto the next to start the whole process again. They were working well until Ziva took a step back, staring at something on the wall.

"Gibbs," she called gesturing up at it, and the boss immediately made his way towards her, watching where she was pointing. It was a long combination of letters and numbers, written in blood on the top of the wall. "It looks like a case number."

"Get a picture," Gibbs instructed, "it'll come in useful for later."

Ziva did so, and Gibbs moved on to where McGee was standing- over the desk. "Found anything interesting, McGee?"

"Yeah," McGee pointed to a small golden pin fashioned to look like the NCIS badge, "it looks like one of the ones that you give the children of case victims."

"Bag it." Gibbs responded.

* * *

An hour or so later, the team were back at the NCIS headquarters, going over evidence down in Abby's lab. Tony, Gibbs and McGee had already explained the basics of the Watson case from back a few years ago to Ziva so that she was all caught up. They all stood around Abby's plasma screen, watching as she pulled up crime scene photos and case documents.

"The case number that was written on the wall belonged to the Watson case, most of the body parts belonged to the commander who somewhat inherited the office after the case was closed, but some were of others that helped put the commander away in prison." Abby explained, grinning sullenly at her co-workers.

"I managed to lift loads of prints of the pin, and they all belonged to Sandy Watson, Mike Watson's now 15 year old daughter- it's definitely the one that you gave her way back when," she added, turning to Gibbs.

"Also, I looked through the security footage from outside the office, and I caught something a little suspicious." She pulled up some footage on the screen. The team watched as a feminine figure in a standard marine core uniform made their way down the corridor, keeping their face hidden at all times, and disappeared into the scene of the crime without even bothering to knock on the door. Around 45 minutes later, the same figure exited, still hiding their face. "Before any of you ask, there's no point in trying to ID this person- I have nothing to identify them by."

"So…?" Ziva pondered.

"Your best bet is probably finding Captain Watson's daughter," Abby continued, pulling up an ID on the screen.

"Sandra Watson, age 15," Tony read aloud, staring at the girl in the photo. She had long dirty blonde hair, and that rebellious look about her- the one that a lot of teenagers appeared to have.

"There is a slight problem with finding her though," the forensic specialist sighed, "she's practically off the grid- she doesn't go to school, doesn't have a phone number, and her parents are both dead."

"How?" McGee questioned.

"It doesn't say anywhere- I checked." Abby answered.

"What do you mean by 'practically'?" Gibbs enquired.

"There's still a listed address for her family, so you may find her there." Abby held up a post-it with the address written on it in black marker, she handed it to the boss.

Gibbs nodded at Abby and turned to face his agents. "DiNozzo, David," he directed, handing Tony the note, "go and pick up Miss Watson and bring her back here for questioning. Tell her she's not in trouble- that we just want to talk to her."

"Sure thing Gibbs," Tony and Ziva chorused, before heading in the direction of the elevator.

* * *

Tony and Ziva walked up the path of the Watson family home, guns holstered at their belts, gold badges shining in the sunlight, steps in sync. The house looked run down and deserted, probably according to the fact that it hadn't been cleaned properly for some time, with paint peeling off the walls and ivy growing on the roof and windows (which were grimy).

"Do you remember this case very well?" Ziva asked, looking up at her partner quizzically.

"Yeah, mostly," Tony answered, "at the time, it was a tough case because it involved an 8 year old girl being taken hostage. I can still remember the state that she was in when me and K," he flinched slightly at Kate's name before changing it, "when me and my partner picked her up." He could still hear Kate's soft voice, attempting to console little Sandy Watson in a motherly tone, the sound of the girl sobbing because she was frightened for her parents and for her life.

Ziva noticed Tony correcting Kate's name and placed a comforting hand on his arm. She knew how much his former teammate's death had affected him. He smiled at her before raising a hand to knock on the door.

"Sandy Watson?" He yelled, "NCIS Federal Agents DiNozzo and David. We need to speak with you!"

Upon waiting a few minutes and not getting a reply, the two agents drew their sigs and made their way around the back of the house in hope of getting a better response. They definitely got a response from that, but not the one that they were hoping for.

They got as far as beyond the back gate before 5 large, burly men in black jumpsuits and ski masks jumped out of nowhere so suddenly that the two agents had no time to fire their guns, which were quickly cast aside by the force of the attack.

No amount of wrestling, boxing or close combat training could've prepared Tony for the extreme manpower behind this ambush. These men weren't here to kill- they had no guns to kill with, they were here to fight. The obviously hired crew moved so quickly and with so much skill that even the former Mossad ninja was struggling with them. Ziva had one man in a heap at her feet, and was fending off another two. She seemed to be doing OK, until one of the two men managed to pin her arms behind her back. Ziva kicked her legs angrily, but it was useless; she slumped to the floor as the other man delivered a knock-out blow to her temple.

"Ziva!" Tony cried, helplessly trying to fight off four men now.

It was only a couple of seconds before the back of his head was hit by the barrel of his own sig, and he fell into the darkness as well.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello, sorry that it's been so long! I'm going to try and upload every day until the end of the Easter holidays, so you'll be getting a lot of updates!**

 **Louise :)**


	4. 3 Days Before

_Ziva David's eyes fluttered open wearily and took a good 5 minutes to adjust to the light. Her head was throbbing painfully as she ran her hands through her hair, sitting up slowly._

 _She had no idea where she was, and didn't remember much apart from going to the Watson's family home, getting into a fight and then somehow losing consciousness during it. She cursed inwardly: she shouldn't have lost control in a fight like that- she'd lead the enemy to victory and left her partner to fend for himself._

 _Tony._

 _The fallen agent scrambled for something to hold onto before hoisting herself up and onto her feet, surveying the scene in front of her. Ziva appeared to be in some sort of carriage- of a train perhaps. It looked like it had been deserted for possibly years, and, when she looked outside, the train yard seemed to be deserted as well. She fumbled at her belt and breathed a sigh of relief when she found her cell phone and badge still on her; her sig was the only one of her possessions unaccounted for. Swiftly but groggily, she unlocked her phone and dialled Gibbs' number._

 _It only took two rings before her boss picked up. "Ziver, what happened?" The man sounded equally frustrated and concerned._

" _Get McGee to trace my phone, and then come and pick me up from my location. The mission was compromised, either she knew we would come and hired a crew to attack us, or she's been attacked too."_

" _You say 'me'," Gibbs mused, "Where's DiNozzo?"_

" _I don't know- they got him."_

* * *

 **3 Days Earlier…**

Tony's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to his surroundings wearily. When his surroundings weren't familiar, he jolted upright with a start, his hand reaching for the gun at his belt and not finding one. In fact, he had nothing at his belt: no badge, no gun. His suit jacket that contained his phone was missing, and his shoes were gone too. Confused, he peered around the room that he was in.

He was sat on a black couch in what seemed to be an ordinary lounge. Opposite him was another couch, identical to his, but empty. The walls were painted cream, and the carpet was a neutral colour. Beside him was a large mirror, his battered figure reflected clearly in it. He raised a hand to the top of his head, wincing where his fingers touched the bruised skin (from where he was knocked out). The room was overall plain, but a couple of oil paintings were hung on the walls, and a piano was sat in the corner.

Just then, the door opened and a young woman walked in, instantly closing and locking it behind her.

The young woman was actually more of a teenager, he noticed, with honey blonde hair that tumbled in a tangled mess half way down her back. She had a round face set with a pair of wild, dangerous looking blue eyes that were glassy and senseless. Tony recognised her as Sandy Watson, the previously innocent little blind girl who he'd helped to save from her own father's actions.

"Agent DiNozzo," she smirked, walking over to sit on the couch opposite him, inspecting him closely, "You're awake."

"Sandy?" He wondered out loud.

"That's right," her smirk widened as she replied.

"What happened?"

"I had you kidnapped," the girl stated matter-of-factly, "I had you kidnapped and brought here."

"Where's my partner?" He questioned harshly, remembering Ziva being knocked out shortly before him. "Where's Agent David?"

Sandy waved a hand carelessly. "She's fine. My men dropped her off somewhere safe, somewhere where Agent Gibbs will be able to find her easily."

"Why do you want me so badly then?" Tony wondered, confused.

"You are a part of my plan to get inside of Agent Gibbs' mind, to wind him up a bit, to drive him insane and mad, just like he did to me and my family. The bloodbath at the Pentagon was another piece in that plan. The people who corrupted him and then replaced him, letting him die in a jail cell deserved that."

"And why me?" The agent asked, now trying to leak information out of the girl.

"Because you are the person on Gibbs' dream team that has been there the longest, and you going missing will push his buttons more because he cares for you like the son he never had." Sandy's smirk grew wider and wider, causing her to look even more crazy.

Tony glanced around the room rapidly, remembering that the girl was blind. There was a window, but it was sealed shut, and the door was locked. As if she was sensing him looking for an exit, Sandy spoke.

"You won't get hurt, Agent DiNozzo, unless you try to escape. Well, not that badly anyway," her smile grew devilish as she stood up and headed for the door.

"Don't bother trying to call Agent Gibbs," she said, unlocking the door and standing in the doorway, "He'll find out where you are in good time." Then, she stepped outside, locking him in the room by himself.

* * *

Later that day, Sandy came to visit him once again, this time bringing a small plate of food with her. It was early afternoon, and he was hungry, but he didn't trust the food or her one bit, so he watched in silence from his couch as she walked over to the piano and placed it on top of it. Although she was blind, she certainly knew her way around without having to feel for one. It made him slightly uncomfortable, though he didn't show it.

"I hope you're hungry Tony," Sandy teased, knowing full well that he wasn't going to touch the food, even if it meant starving to death.

"I have a rule," Tony replied snappily, "And it's that you don't take food from people who knock you out with a gun on the back of your head and then kidnap you."

Sandy chuckled darkly, "Suit yourself then." She left the plate where it was and wandered over to sit beside him on the couch.

"You're partner, Agent David, is nothing like your old one, is she?" Sandy suggested.

Tony's heart tightened at the tiny mention of Kate. He couldn't help it- even years after her death, he still felt responsible for it. She had been there to help him through the plague, but he hadn't been able to help her on that rooftop. What kind of friend and partner was he? Still, he sat in silence, hoping that she'd change the subject for him.

Instead, he winced almost unnoticeably as the teenager striked him hard across the face with her palm. He felt his lip split, hot blood trickling down his chin. He still didn't speak.

"You will make this whole situation a lot easier," Sandy hissed threateningly, "if you talk to me, Agent DiNozzo."

"No," Tony seethed reluctantly, avoiding eye contact with Sandy, "Ziva is nothing like Kate."

Without hesitation, he stood up and paced over to stand in front of the window, surveying the busy streets below him. He was in a multi-storied apartment building, and could see over the city of Washington D.C. clearly. Suddenly, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, and shifted his eyes to the side to see Sandy stood beside him, staring up at him in curiosity.

"Agent Todd was so nice to me." She stated, "Motherly, perhaps- she was gentle and kind, and I could tell, even at the age of 8 that she cared deeply about getting me and my parents out of such a tricky deal safely. Whatever happened to her?"

Tony sighed, "She was murdered- a one shot kill; right through her forehead. She was gone before she hit the ground, and had no chance of walking out alive before she even stepped inside the building. Her death was planned, but it on my hands, and that's a feeling that I will never be able to get over."

Sandy rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. "You loved her, didn't you?" She murmured.

After hesitating for a moment, Tony replied honestly- there was no point in lying. No harm could possibly be done- Kate was dead. Dead. Gone forever. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"I bet she was one in a million," Sandy whispered, leaning right up to his ear so that he could hear her clearly.

"She was. She was something really special."

* * *

 _Sandy unlocked another door and walked in purposefully._

 _Her other hostage was standing by the window in exactly the same spot that she'd left Tony in, hands running up and down her face in stress; she had heard every word that he had said through the overhead speakers. The woman was smart, she knew that Tony DiNozzo's confession had put him in a weak spot where he could easily be manipulated, and was muttering to herself under her breath in disbelief and shock. She couldn't believe that he would give up so easily._

 _She whirled around to face Sandy as she walked in, her eyes glistening with frustration, relief and disappointment._

 _All Sandy could do was laugh._

" _Agent Gibbs isn't going to know what hit him!" She cackled, extremely happy with the information that she'd been given- information that she could use to break several people simultaneously. "The fun starts now, Caitlin Todd!"_

* * *

 **A/N: Hello everybody! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get it to you, but I quite like how it's turned out with all the different cuts in the story!  
**

 **Be sure to favourite and follow if you want more!**

 **Louise :)**


	5. 2 Days Before

**2 Days Earlier…**

Gibbs, Tim and Ziva stood around the plasma screen in the squad room, each one of them extremely annoyed and anxious (Gibbs and Ziva more so than McGee), determined to find their teammate and attackers. Ziva had been left, Gibbs and Tim had quickly realised, at the same place that Sandy and her mother had been held hostage years ago, with no wounds except from a few bruises from the earlier fight. Her sig sauwer had quickly been recovered from a second train carriage after the team had arrived, and Ziva had swiftly recovered the whole story to them, right up until the point that she was knocked out.

"Sandy Watson, as Abby found out after you were gone yesterday," McGee informed, "has been a rogue for years, with countless investigations linking back to her and turning out as cold cases. It has been discovered that she sits right at the top of her own crime network, which many different branches of US police have been continuously trying to get close to and failed. Boss, she is no longer the innocent little girl that we all knew her as."

"I got that McGee," Gibbs snarled, forever the protective father figure when it came to his team.

"Have you been able to trace and find anyone linked to the network?" Ziva enquired sharply, swiftly saving Tim from the rath of Gibbs.

"As a matter of fact," Tim replied thankfully, "I have." He pulled up a mugshot on the screen of a threatening looking man with dark hair, a slim jaw line and a pair of wicked green eyes. "Alfie Johnson, the network's second-in-command after Sandy herself- up until a year ago, that is."

"What happened?" Asked Ziva, confused.

"He slipped up," Gibbs butted in, already guessing what Tim was about to reveal. "Where's he being held?"

* * *

Tony didn't remember falling asleep, but somehow he found himself waking up in his hotel room on the same couch that he'd woken up on the day before. Sitting up slowly, he rubbed his eyes and observed the room, taking his surroundings in.

He noticed while doing this that there was a pile of clothes on the arm of his couch (which included a shirt that was way too big, a pair of trousers and some oversized shoes), and a sig on top of the piano. Without hesitation, he hurried over and grabbed it, recognising it as his own that had been previously confiscated. He was about to go and warily inspect the clothes in closer detail when he noticed something: the door to his room was open and the hallway outside was completely clear.

As he edged towards the door, sig held out in front of him in the traditional investigative fashion, Sandy's words began to whirl around in his head.

" _You won't get hurt, Agent DiNozzo, unless you try to escape."_

Screw that.

He slipped out of the door.

* * *

Gibbs and McGee arrived at the jail in which Alfie Johnson was being held less than an hour after their discovery, Tim feeling thoroughly sick due to Gibbs' violent driving. They were now sat in the cell along with Alfie, McGee standing by the door while Gibbs sat right in the fiend's eye line glaring fiercely.

"Alfie Johnson," he snarled.

"NCIS." Alfie smirked wicked eyes glowing in the dim cell, "I expected you to be here sooner: I called."

"Well, we're here now. What do you want?"

"You're missing an agent, aren't you? What's his name, Tommy?"

"Tony, Special Agent DiNozzo." Gibbs grimaced. "How do you know that he's missing?"

"Sandy's insane; she's been fixated on your team for years. I've seen my fair share of pictures of all of your agents; I couldn't help but notice that your best one was absent." Tim's expression turned noticeably jealous at this statement- it wasn't that he didn't know that Tony was the best agent on the team; it was just that he didn't like it being mentioned.

"Fixated? How so?"

"She wants to end your team the way you ended her family: badly."

* * *

Cautiously, Tony crept through the labyrinth of corridors in the seemingly abandoned hotel, snapping around corners, creeping along pressed against walls, crouched down beside pieces of dusty furniture. Strangely, he encountered no one, which was both frightening and relieving as navigating himself through the place was hard enough: all the hallways looked identical, and he had no idea how to get back to his room. He had the horrible feeling that someone was messing with him.

Suddenly, he heard frantic footsteps coming from around the corner and stopped dead. Slowly and silently, he edged along the wall and turned the corner, gun pointed directly at the other person's head. There was a gasp of shock from the other person as they also rounded the corner, gun drawn out in front of them and pointed directly at his weapon.

"Drop your weapon!" Tony and Kate cried simultaneously, neither of them lowering their weapons.

Now it was Tony's turn to gasp as he laid eyes upon his previously dead partner. Kate was thin, her dark hair longer than he remembered and bedraggled, her eyes big and panicked as she pointed her gun at him. "Kate?" He whispered, instantly lowering his gun from her head as he realised that he didn't want to be responsible for an accidental headshot. She did the same.

"Tony," she fretted, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing!"

"Tony, this is a trap, I came to warn you! You need to go back to yo…"

Her words were cut off as Sandy arrived behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder as three men with rifles appeared next to Kate.

"Caitlin." She nodded at Kate, who scowled, but Tony could see true fear in her eyes. "DiNozzo. I see that you two have met." She threw back her head and let back a psychopathic cackle. "Now, you will learn the consequences of those who break the rules!"

* * *

"What do you mean insane?" Gibbs demanded.

Alfie smirked. "6 months after Mike was incriminated and sent to prison, he was found dead in his cell, a hangman's cloth around his neck. People guess that he did it because of the guilt he felt towards his wife and daughter and the hardship that he was suffering- he was severely bullied in jail from what I've heard."

"Bastard." Gibbs muttered under his breath.

"Mrs Watson lapsed into grief about a month after his funeral. She began taking any drugs that she could find in obscene amounts, drinking until she was beyond drunk. Sandy had to sit there and watch the whole thing, while sometimes being affected by her influenced mother. A couple of weeks later, the mad woman overdosed on a drug that drove her mad for good, causing her to attack and abuse her daughter until she fell into an uncontrollable seizure and died. Of course, Sandy was blind, so all she could remember of the attack were the sounds of her mother screaming and yelling, the pain that had been bestowed upon her, and the smell of her own blood and drugs." The criminal continued.

"Sandy spent the remainder of her childhood up until the age of 13 in dozens of various care and foster homes, but inevitably never stayed in the same place for more than a few months, and never got over the fact that her own mother had attacked her before collapsing on the floor and dying in front of her. Those were the painful memories that drove her to insanity, and caused her to run away and off the grid as soon as she became a teen. She vowed to end the people who ruined her parents, from the innocent replacement of her father to the team who bought her world crashing down.

"And now," Alfie summarised, "your best agent has gone missing. I suggest you hurry up and find him, because if I know Sandra Watson as well as I think I do, than it's not going to be pretty if you don't."

* * *

Tony could do nothing as he and Kate were dragged into yet another room, empty this time, and he was held back by his arms by two men who were abnormally huge. He could however, yell and struggle and attempt to break free as three other guys cornered his partner and began to lay into her as if she was a human punch bag.

Though Kate was a strong fighter- her Secret Service training made sure of that- she was rusty, and hadn't fought properly in a while. When it came to it, she could hold off one attacker, possibly two, but not three.

After gaining bruises all over, a split lip (and other bloody cuts and wounds), and being unable to hold back tears of physical pain, Kate collapsed to the floor in unconsciousness, beaten broken.

Sandy walked over to her and crouched down beside her, and Tony's heart froze, unsure of what she would do. Thankfully, she just stared at the helpless woman, before turning to him, a short chuckle escaping her lips. Though rage was burning inside of Tony, he still felt curious at the fact that she knew where everything was, despite her complete blindness.

"Poor little Katie," she taunted, increasing Tony's anger as she called her by the name that Kate had hated but he loved to call her by. "Such an unfair fight, even with top level skill." Sandy laughed again heartlessly, "Oh well, it's your turn now, Agent DiNozzo."

Tony's knees buckled as one of the guys who'd been holding him back delivered a powerful blow right to the centre of his stomach before kicking his legs out from underneath him. Kate's attackers came to join his two, and he ended up being tossed around and battered until he felt like a ragdoll. He felt the skin split up his left side and blood soak his shirt as one of them pulled out a small pocket knife and began to play around with it.

One minute, the darkness was lurking above him, harmless and unexpected, the next it was smothering him as he gave way to it, leaving the light behind.

* * *

 **A/N: GASP: I actually uploaded on time on a Wednesday?! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Follow/favourite if you want more!**

 **Louise :)**


	6. 1 Day Before

**1 Day Earlier…**

Once again, Tony woke up on his couch, back in his room. His right eye was swollen to the point that he could barely open it, but his left was well enough to observe what was going on; he glanced down at his body and winced at what he saw. Somehow, his shirt had been discarded, and deep purple bruises stood out on his stomach, arms and the bottoms of his legs. There were deep, bleeding cuts stretching down his sides, which a pair of quick hands was binding with bandages.

That quick pair of hands belonged to none other than his late friend and partner, Kate Todd, who was kneeling on the floor next to him, cleaning up blood with a cloth. Her body was also adorned with violent bruises and scratches, but not as bad as his. For a minute, all he could do was lie there and stare at her- the way her dark locks framed her face and her beautiful eyes sparkled was identical to the way they had been years ago, and made her look almost angelic; so much so that he had to reach out his fingers and run them down her arm, just to make sure that she was real and not a figment of his imagination.

Kate jumped slightly as his fingertips came to rest on her skin, looking him directly in the eye with a pitiful expression.

"Kate…" he whispered, returning her meaningful stare.

"Don't talk DiNozzo," she sighed, "you'll ruin yourself even further." He winced at her exhausted tone and the ointment she began to apply to a few of the more violent bruises on his body. "You should never have left this room- it was one huge trap so that she could have some entertainment."

"Why were you outside then?" He chuckled weakly.

"I was trying to find you and warn you before she got to you. I guess I wasn't quick enough though…"

"What are you doing here Kate?" Tony interrupted curiously, not trying to sound rude, just wanting a basic answer.

"Well, I'm currently taking care of you because you seem incapable of doing it yourself."

"That's cute," he smirked, "But I meant _here,_ in the land of the living."

Kate's eyes slipped from his momentarily and lowered to the ground as she reluctantly braced herself to tell all. "It's a long story…"

Tony reached over and took her hand, gently lacing his fingers with hers, locking their palms together tightly. "I've got time," he whispered.

* * *

"I've been following up what you told me earlier Gibbs," Abby smiled, pacing furiously around her lab as she generally did when her mind was working. "And I came across a couple of interesting details."

Gibbs nodded quietly, "Go on then."

"According to Alfie, Sandy doesn't like to stay in the same place for more than a month at a time, right? She moves on the 28th of every month to keep a regular schedule and to prevent herself being found by law enforcement. Apparently, she leaves a mobile trail of every place that she's been, so that she can remember how far she's come. Ducky says it's a sentimental thing, but I'm not so sure: I think that it's her way of showing us where she is. Alfie says that she generally places a call at the start of the month- the 1st, and the day before she moves, the 27th."

"And?" Gibbs mused, clearly waiting for the scientist to get to the point. "Tell me you found something."

"I did," Abby grinned. "I followed up the theory that the calls were to tell us where she was, and I had this idea- where would Sandy call if she wanted us to find her? It would have to be somewhere that we knew of when we solved her dad's case years ago, somewhere that we would think to look, perhaps send agents to."

"The Watson family home," the boss stated.

Abby pointed at him triumphantly, "Exactly. I began digging through the records for the landline, looking for calls coming in from the outside twice a month- on the 1st and the 27th. I found a pattern too: the same phone would call on the 1st and 27th of the same month, but never for two months or more in a row- completely identical to Sandy's moving pattern.

"I traced back all of the calls- they all came from specific places- hotels, boarding houses, lodges, caravan parks- all places that Sandy and her family visited when they had all been together. They move in a sort of Northerly direction, from where we are right now in DC to New York, where the most recent call was placed on the first of May."

"Have you got a specific location?"

"Not yet Gibbs," the goth sighed impatiently, "but I'm working on it as fast as I can. One thing's for certain though, this is almost definitely where Tony is."

* * *

"The next thing I know," Kate announced, "I've been kidnapped, and am being moved from place to place on the 28th of every month by the seemingly innocent little blind girl that our team rescued from her own father. My life is gone, and everyone I love thinks I'm dead- I'm nothing but a punch bag for a corrupted teenager and her friends for the rest of my worthless lifetime. My family heals slowly; the team gets a new agent and moves on. You, Gibbs, Abby, you all forget about me, get on with your lives like people like you always do."

Tony, who was now propped up by the arm of the couch covered with a thin blanket reached out and placed his fingers on her cheek lightly, his other hand still holding hers. "I never forgot you Kate; I missed you every single day for the whole time that you were gone. I went to your grave every year, hell, I went 4 days ago because I had this feeling that I wouldn't be able to go on the day.

"After you died, I didn't speak for 3 days because I couldn't accept the fact that you wouldn't be there to banter with and talk to anymore. After your funeral, I went up and basically camped out on that rooftop, reliving that scene over and over againand killing myself by thinking of the possible ways I could've saved you; I came close to throwing myself over the edge a couple of times, but I didn't- what would you have thought of me if I had?

"They always say that you don't know what you have until it's gone, and I've decided that they are right: it was only after you were gone that I realised what I'd lost: a beautiful, brave woman who put me in my place like no other. Someone who cared about me so much that she stayed with me while I was dying with the plague, and refused to leave until the point that she was forced to. I lost someone who quite frankly, I couldn't live without."

Tony sat up even further, pulling himself even closer to Kate, his face now inches from hers. "I lost someone who never got to know how much I loved them, and love them to this day, someone completely irreplaceable. You."

For a second, Kate fell silent, her gaze completely drowning in his. After a moment, she leant forward and softly pressed her lips against his, her hands reaching up to cup his face as his found her waist and he kissed her back gently. The kiss started off soft, but quickly grew more intense, until they had to pull apart, both fighting for breath.

"I love you," Tony whispered to her, staring into her gleaming hazel eyes.

For a moment, everything was perfect.

"I love you too," Kate whispered back, before leaning in for another kiss.

* * *

"GIBBS GIBBS GIBBS!" Abby squealed down the phone, "I've got it- I cracked the address!"

Gibbs grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen hastily, causing McGee and Ziva to stare at him. "Where?" He demanded.

Abby gave the address- a hotel in New York that the Watson's had stayed in when they'd gone on vacation years ago. Gibbs scribbled it down frantically.

"Got it?" Abby checked.

"Yeah, I got it: that's good work Abs." Gibbs hung up the phone to address his team. "Grab your gear- we're driving to New York."

* * *

Sandy watched through her the CCTV footage as Kate and Tony lay asleep on the couch, their arms wrapped around each other protectively.

Tomorrow, this would all be over.

Tomorrow, she'd finally get closure for what had happened to her family.

Tomorrow, Agent Gibbs would pay.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm so sorry for not uploading in so long! This fic is near it's end now, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Louise :)**


	7. 2 Hours Before

**2 hours before…**

Kate's eyes fluttered open to the bright morning sunlight streaming in through the blinds and highlighting the entire room. As her mind and body became more and more adjusted to being awake, she became extremely aware of a heavy pair of arms draped over her body protectively, and the sensation of another person breathing against the crook of her shoulder and neck. Looking over her shoulder, she smirked as the wide green eyes of Tony DiNozzo blinked back at her and gently planted a kiss on his cheek.

"How long have you been awake?" She chuckled.

"About 45 minutes," he replied, gazing up at her.

Raising an eyebrow, Kate lifted Tony's arms from around her waist and slid off the couch slyly. Leaving him with a wink, she made her way over to the window and stared out of it, her hands on her hips.

"What is it?" Tony questioned, sitting up and stretching out his arms in front of him, which were still bruised and aching due to receiving the beating a few days before.

"I was just thinking: how can I trust that Gibbs will find you?" She smiled into the glass, surveying the city, "But then I remembered that he's Gibbs." Kate laughed- a gesture that Tony couldn't help but return.

"Gibbs' team is like family to him: he'll do whatever he has to do to find us," he replied, giving this thought a small smile, knowing it was true.

"He'll do whatever he has to do to find _you_." Kate contradicted: "You're his agent, his star employee. In his eyes, I'm buried in the ground in some Indiana graveyard. I don't exist anymore."

Tony stood up, striding over to meet Kate at the window. He clamped a hand down on her shoulder, flinching as he made her wince (her shoulders were still bruised from being beat up), turning her around so she faced him, her eyes dead on his.

"You're still an NCIS agent, whether you like it or not, and you always will be. No matter whether you wear the badge or not, you are still a member of Gibbs' family, and as soon as he sees you, you'll be welcomed back in straight away," he sighed contently, "not that you were ever excluded in the first place."

"I do love you, Anthony DiNozzo," Kate smirked, stepping up onto her toes and pecking him contently on the lips.

* * *

Gibbs, Ziva and McGee sped down the motorway, growing closer and closer to their destination by the minute. Though they were exhausted from all the driving, the determination on their faces was utterly unmoveable. The mission to find their missing agent was the one thing on their mind, but not the only thing that was bothering Gibbs' gut.

"What's up Gibbs?" Ziva curiously pried, knowing that there was something else on her boss' mind.

For a moment, the team leader was silent, debating on whether to tell the two present members of his team or not, but finally, he spoke. "My gut." After noticing his two agents exchange a perplexed glance in the driver's mirror, he elaborated. "I have a feeling that Tony's not the only person who we're going to find in that hotel."

"Along with Sandy and all of her crew?"

"There'll be someone else, someone we won't expect to see." Gibbs added, "And whatever goes down, it won't be pretty."

* * *

Kate stood in front of the mirror, appearing to be adjusting her hair. However, Tony knew she was searching for something.

"Headlice?" He jokingly suggested.

"Bobby pins." She grinned, retrieving two of them.

"Are you going to style me or something? I thought my hair was great?"

At this, Kate laughed. "As much as I would like to give you a makeover DiNozzo- it might do something for your appearance, I have something else in mind." She made her way over to the door and began picking the lock as swiftly as she could.

"Miss Watson doesn't believe in security cameras, just armed guards- dozens of them, which when caught on their own aren't as powerful as they look, and aren't every evenly distributed," She muttered, seemingly more to herself then her partner.

The lock clicked the door now free to open.

"We're going to go and make Gibbs' job a whole lot easier."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of ISD! Another should be up next week, so make sure you come back if you want to read more...  
**

 **If you've been here for a while, you may remember my fic Aria. If you enjoyed Aria, perhaps you should refer back to the bottom of my bio: there's a snippet for a fic on there containing Tate, Tiva, Aria and Tali! The whole thing will be coming soon, so I'd be on the lookout for that... ;)**

 **Louise :)**


	8. 1 Hour Before

**1 hour earlier…**

Team Gibbs burst in through the front door of the hotel, sigs drawn and blazing, federal warnings being thrown out left right and centre (quite literally, from Gibbs in the middle and McGee and Ziva either side). Upon being greeted by nobody, they lowered their guns slightly but kept on full alert as they moved around the reception area of the hotel, checking under the deserted desk and behind a couple of marble pillars. When they attempted to get through into the main lobby, they discovered that the door was locked.

"What now Gibbs? There's no one here!" Ziva exclaimed, observing the hotel curiously.

Gibbs, who had already sunk to his knees and was picking the lock gave a grateful grunt as it clicked into unlock mode. "Oh, there is," he smirked, "We go up."

"And when we encounter Sandy and her men?" McGee demanded.

"We fight."

Gibbs pushed open the door and hurried his team into the main lobby, sigs at the ready in case they came across any trouble. In less than 20 seconds they did just that: gunshots rang through the large room as they were instantly greeted by five shooters. The agents immediately began firing shots back, hitting one of the guys straight away, but closely missing the others.

"We fight," Tim repeated anxiously.

* * *

Tony and Kate picked their way carefully through the endless corridors, without guns this time, but with a two person advantage and a lot more common sense. Kate had been stuck in this place considerably longer than Tony had, so she knew which doors which would be useful to unlock and which ones would cause them more harm than good. She knew that behind one door was a weapons room, and that behind another was the control center, but she also knew that behind some lay escape routes.

They had only encountered 2 of Sandy's guards, both of which (with their combined skills) had been knocked out and moved into rooms that had then been locked. It was definitely safe to say that Kate's fighting skills had been awakened after the previous battle, as she was back to her usual firey self, and her opponents didn't stand a chance. So far, she'd only walked away with a couple of bruises and scratches. He helped, of course, but when she was in full swing, he didn't like to stand in her way, and she was fascinating to watch.

One thing he didn't understand was why these guards had weapons on them, but refused to use them. Tony definitely wasn't complaining, but the whole situation baffled him: surely if Sandy wanted to use them against Gibbs so badly, one of them would've been hurt with an actual weapon by now?

While edging along another wall pressed closely against the brickwork, a series of gunshots rang out around the building from the ground floor. The shots continued to sound for several minutes, and Kate whirled around to meet Tony's gaze, eyes wide. If guns were being used, it was likely that a) there was more than two people facing Sandy and her men, and b) these people also had guns and were seen as a serious threat.

"Gibbs." They breathed collectively, relieved smiles stretching across their faces.

"We need to go and help them," Tony stated.

"We can't." Kate exclaimed, "That's why it's so empty up here, all of Sandy's guys are downstairs. Even if we find ourselves weapons, we'll just get stuck in a sticky situation."

"Is there a way we can communicate with them? Can we tell them where we are?"

For a moment, Kate was silent, pondering his question. Then, her face lit up curiously. "How good is your Morse code?" She enquired.

"Not perfect, but alright." He replied. "Why?"

Kate smirked.

* * *

Team Gibbs found themselves cornering the fifth and final shooter, who was leaning against a corner in the wall, separated from his gun and bleeding out slowly through a wound in his shoulder.

"You'll never get out of here alive," he chuckled evilly, "not all of you. You'll be lucky if you even find them."

"I doubt that." Gibbs growled. "Where's my agent?"

"Don't you mean _your agents_? There's two of them up there."

"WHERE?" Gibbs yelled.

"Such a shame Sandy's going to make him shoot her. They were real cute."

"Oh damn it." He muttered, knowing that the guy wasn't going to tell them anything of use.

"Gibbs," Ziva began, "there's no way we have time to search the whole building…"

Just as she said this, the lights started to flicker. On and off they went, as if in a pattern. MIT graduate Tim McGee was the first to pick up on the use of Morse code, and quickly expressed his knowledge to his colleagues.

"It's Morse code," he stated, causing both of his companions to turn to him. "Dash dash dot, dot dot, dash dot dot dot, dash dot dot dot, dot dot dot…Gibbs!"

* * *

"You sure about this?" Tony asked as he manipulated the lights to form the word 'floor'.

"Yeah," Kate reassured, "McGee graduated MIT, and was a boyscout- he _has_ to know Morse code!"

"Ok, what floor are we on?"

"Floor 5." Another voice intervened. "Room 48." The two agents whipped their heads around to find Sandy Watson, flanked by some of her guys. "That's where you two will be when Agent Gibbs finds you."

* * *

Gibbs leading the way, the team sprinted along the fifth floor. Surprising, all the doors that would've held them back were unlocked, which normally they would've found suspicious, but given the situation, assumed that they were Tony and his mysterious partner's doing.

They reached Room 48, and stood right outside the door, Ziva and McGee on either side, Gibbs facing straight into the room. The Boss gave the signal and the three burst in…

...And were instantly ambushed.

The loud cackle of Sandy Watson could be heard clearly, even above the racket of the fight. The trio didn't even have the chance to put their fingers on their triggers, they were so severely outnumbered. Within 30 seconds of a pointless fight, the three agents were held back helplessly, even the Mossad ninja.

"So nice of you to join us, Agent Gibbs," she smirked. "I must warn you now, if you try to escape, try to talk your way out of this, your four agents will die, and you too shortly after."

"Four agents?" Ziva questioned, understanding about her, McGee and Tony, but not the fourth.

"Don't you want to know the truth about Agent Todd's death?"

Gibbs and McGee shared a flabbergasted glance.

"Yeah, you heard me right." The teenager basked in the agents confusion. "Turns out that your precious Caitlin isn't so dead after all…"

* * *

 **A/N: I'm so sorry for abandoning my upload schedule. I'm on school holidays now so I'll be able to upload more often!  
**

 **Expect more!**

 **Louise :)**


	9. 10 Minutes Before

**10 minutes earlier…**

"I don't think you realise how much pain you've caused me and my family, Agent Gibbs." Sandy scorned, her blank, unseeing eyes filled with a balanced mix of long lasting pain and mocking. "You drove my family to insanity, leaving my parent's minds in tatters and mine like this forever- corrupted. All of this," she gestured around the room to him and his team, held back by armed guards, "Is your fault."

The teen nodded to one of her henchmen, who obliged by disappearing through another door. Minutes later, he reappeared, now escorting Tony DiNozzo into the room. Gibbs felt his mind flood with relief upon seeing his agent alive. Tony was handcuffed and wearing clothes that would never fit him in a million years. Though they were fading, Gibbs was quick to pick up on the bruises and scabs that decorated his arms and face. Tony appeared to have not shaved in days, as unmaintained stubble covered his chin and upper lip. Overall, the senior field agent looked rough as hell, and that made red hot anger boil up inside of his already frustrated boss.

"You and Agents DiNozzo, Todd and McGee shattered my childhood into millions of broken pieces: my father killed himself after being sentenced to time in prison, his guilt becoming too much for him to handle. Even before that, my mother was struggling on her own, and I didn't need my eyesight to know that, but after she got the news that was it. She lost it completely. I would only have to smell her to know that she was taking drugs she shouldn't and drinking too much alcohol. Day after day she grew more and more depressed and angry until one day I was being attacked by the woman who'd loved me since before I was even born. She was screaming and crying, hitting and clawing at me as if I was a monster to her, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. She fell into unconsciousness and died right in front of me, on our own kitchen floor before I even had the chance to think about calling 911.

"I went to numerous foster homes, but half of them didn't want me because I was blind or 'too much for them to handle', and after being rejected so many times, I found myself unable to love or trust anyone. My inability to care about anyone made me stone cold, and the pain that I once felt morphed into anger, which became an overwhelming desire for revenge. I constructed my own empire, mostly centred around harming those who shared similarities with the people who'd blown everything I'd ever known to smithereens until I could find the perfect way to do it to the people themselves." Sandy threw back her head and let out an almighty cackle. "And it wasn't too long ago that I found out some news that would allow me to do just that!" She waved a hand at a second henchman, and Tony visibly stiffened as the guy strode purposefully through the door that he'd been brought out of. He silently watched his colleagues reactions as he returned, holding Kate by the arm.

McGee's jaw dropped and his eyebrows shot up in confusion. He blinked, his brain trying to make sense of what was happening. Kate Todd stood before him, well and truly alive. Her dark hair was longer that it had previously been and her face and body slimmer. Like Tony, her skin was also adorned with marks of physical abuse. Firing a sneaky glance at his boss, he was relieved to find that Gibbs' actions mirrored his own, except, Tim could practically feel the volcano that was his boss' anger beginning to explode Still trying to comprehend what he was witnessing, he almost jumped out of his skin when Sandy began speaking again.

"I found out through an acquaintance that one of the agents that had helped incriminate my father had faked her death. I'm still unsure on how she did it, but all that matters is that I tracked her down, and brought her here. I'd heard tales of how a rogue agent attempted to kill her just to get at the team, and the extreme effect that it had on the people on it, so I thought I'd play that to my advantage. Agent Todd has been here for a while, so I thought that now was the right time to put my plan into action.

"I disposed of my father's replacement, knowing that NCIS would be the ones to investigate the death and that your team would follow up any links to me that they could find. When you sent your agents to my house, Gibbs, I had some of my employees meet them there to move your new girl," she shot a look in Ziva's direction, "out of the way and retrieve DiNozzo. One thing that I remember from my brief time at NCIS was thinking that Tony and Kate would make a great couple, and hearing that he had a lot of held back romantic feelings for her. Naturally, I played into these feelings, and made them reunite before watching each other suffer at my men's fists- hence some of the bruises you may have noticed. Now this lovely pair have discovered that they share the same for feelings for each other I'm going to put the final stage of my plan into action."

The guy holding Tony took a key from his pocket and unlocked his handcuffs while Kate's guard did the same. Sandy walked over to Tony, a sig sauwer in hand, her mouth still rambling.

"You see Agent Gibbs," she smirked, "my theory is if watching someone else kill Kate sent Tony into turmoil, shooting her himself would cause his heart to shut down, and ultimately destroy him." Tony began to shake, his expression settling into one of pure terror, "and then seeing him shoot himself afterwards would do the same to all of you. Do you agree with my theory?"

Gibbs shrugged, determinedly hiding his inner worry, "DiNozzo's loyal to all his teammates," was all he said by way of agreement.

Sandy grinned, "Exactly!" The henchmen holding Gibbs, Ziva and McGee tightened their grips and drew guns from their belts, pressing them against their temples. She handed the sig she was holding to Tony and adjusted his arm so that it was pointed straight at Kate's chest. "Which is why it's either her, or all of you."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm a couple of days late, I know! I'm going on holiday for a week, so I won't be uploading for a bit. The next chapter of this fic will be identical to the first, so don't expect anything special for my next upload! This fic is really close to being finished, so I can't wait to start thinking of new stuff to upload!  
**

 **Louise :)**


	10. Now: The Present

**The Present.**

Now, Tony's eyes darted frantically around the room, his fingers trembling, the gun threatening to slip from his grasp. A single drop of sweat ran down his forehead and dripped onto his own outstretched arm- onto the shirt that wasn't his, which was too big in the body and too short in the sleeves.

His best friends, his teammates, his family, were being restrained by various people that were each the size of human giants, who had arms of steel and unbreakable grips. Even the Mossad agent was utterly still, hold motionless in an iron-tight hold. Their own weapons had been dropped onto the beige carpet of the prison of an apartment, while the one in his hand was pointed at the woman who for years, he'd believed to be dead. However, despite the fact that there was a sig being pointed directly at her, she didn't flinch, didn't look scared. In fact, she appeared to be completely calm- because she trusted him. She always had.

He felt his captor walk up behind him and place a hand on his quivering shoulder sharply. However, he didn't avert his eyes from the woman standing in front of him. The woman whose hazel eyes were bright as day even though he'd watched the life drain out of them; the woman whose chocolate brown hair was fresh and fluffy even though he'd seen it become stained with her own blood. The corrupted girl leant up and whispered softly enough to be intimidating, but loud enough for the whole room to hear her.

"Do it Agent DiNozzo," she said, her breath hot on his ear, "you know that she has to go. It's either her or all of them," she gestured to his teammates, who watched him blankly. They knew that if they made a scene, it would just get worse. He wondered where it'd gone wrong; when the innocent little kid who'd helped them with her incredible sense of hearing despite her complete blindness had turned into this insane, corrupted young woman. She couldn't be helped- he'd seen the things that she'd done while laughing the whole way through doing them. He gulped, trying to figure out if there was a way that he could use her lack of eyesight to his advantage. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gibbs signalling to him, clearly not quite as stuck as he looked.

Tony placed his finger on the trigger of the sig and closed his eyes briefly nodding his head as he did so, absorbing what he had to do.

"I love you Kate," he whispered, before pulling it.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you didn't get too excited when you saw the notification for this! This is purely a recap of where the team are now, a repeat of chapter 1. I'll be back soon, as I'm going away for a week now, and more chapters about events after this will be up then!  
**

 **Louise :)**


	11. The Following Chaos

**The Following Chaos…**

The moments that followed seemed to occur in slow motion, but they were probably the fastest to ever happen in Tony DiNozzo's lifetime.

A loud gunshot sounded and Kate let out a scream, collapsing to the floor into the fetal position, eyes screwed shut and hands over her ears. Gibbs however sprung into action, launching himself in front of his former agent, taking the bullet in his vest, which for once he had remembered to put on. If Tony had been feeling sentimental, he would've noted that he had just mirrored the action that Kate had done on that day, paying her back by saving her life, just as she had saved his. The man let out a grunt of pain as his body hit the ground, but was barely down for 10 seconds before he drew his gun and began firing at the men surrounding him and his team.

The team plunged into action, Ziva snatching the arm of the man holding her and twisting it behind his back painfully, causing him to cry out in pain and McGee somehow managing to pull his sig and shoot his captor in the leg. Kate was up off the floor and shooting a random gun that she'd found on the ground. Tony was still confused over why none of Sandy's men seemed to carry operational weapons, but hey, he wasn't going to complain about it.

Sandy.

The teenager was nowhere to be seen amongst the drama of the room, and that struck a chord of pure dread in his chest. Still clutching the gun that he had almost murdered his partner with, Tony silently slipped through the main door, leaving the progressing fight behind. His gaze snapped to the left, and then the right, attempting to catch a glimpse of the wreckless girl and failing. Knowing to trust his instincts, he took a left turn, not completely sure why (it just seemed right) and crept down the corridor, sig held out in front of him, eyes darting frantically from floor to ceiling searching for Sandy. As he snuck past rooms, he would crack open the doors and peek in, just to assure that they were empty. When more and more of them turned out so, he began feeling slightly uneasy. Where could she possibly be? She couldn't escape. If she escaped, the team would have to live the rest of their lives in fear that she would come back for them (and she most definitely would come back for them).

Only the final room of the floor remained, and Tony's gut warned him that what he was about to discover wouldn't be good. He took a breath. This room wasn't one to be taken slowly; this was to be handled swiftly and efficiently.

3…2…1...

The door tore off of its hinges, slamming to the ground with a loud bang. Tony stood in the doorway, suddenly more courageous than he had ever been in his life. His gun was in an iron grip held out in front of him, his eyeline unwavering. The firing end was pointed straight at Sandy Watson's chest.

She didn't even flinch at the life-ender directed bang on her heart. A haunted grin spread itself across her chest as she took him in, eyes almost mocking his sudden courage. Tony had an extremely strong urge to shoot her right then, but he pushed it back, willing to wait a couple of minutes to hear her last words.

"Don't even think about shooting me, Agent DiNozzo." She taunted. "It won't do you or your team any good."

"And why is that?"

Sandy let out a sly chuckle, holding up what resembled a remote control in one of her pale hands. "Because this building is completely wired, and if I die, then it and everyone else in it dies too," she rubbed her thumb lightly over a crimson circular button which practically screamed the word 'destroy', beaming at him as if she had won the lottery. Well, she practically had: she knew that Tony wouldn't sacrifice his entire family just to kill her.

When her opponent dropped his weapon to his side, the girl cackled, still clutching the fatal device. Mike Watson's daughter was not done avenging him quite yet. She sauntered over to stand in front of the open door that connected this room back to the previous one; planning to make a manic dash through it if DiNozzo remained in the main door (she was pretty positive that he wouldn't try anything stupid).

"You're never going to win this Tony. Even if by some miracle you do get out of here alive, I'll be back, and I'll find you again. You will pay for my father's death, no matter how long it takes."

Tony laughed, though his mind was spinning. The girl was insane: there was no way that he could prevent her from pressing the explosive button. Everybody in the building was going to die- Gibbs, Ziva, McGee, himself, Kate. Kate. A sharp movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he subtly shifted his gaze to spy his former partner advancing on the clueless teen, through the other room, gun in hand. Kate widened her eyes, urging him to keep the conversation going for as long as possible as she took care of the villain.

"See that's where you're wrong, Sandy. The only time that you'll find us again is in the courtroom when this is all over. In fact, after all this, the soul person who'll pay for the aftermath of your father's death is you."

Kate was drawing closer to Sandy now, sig trained on her back.

"It amazes me DiNozzo, how much faith you have in yourself and your team, especially Caitlin. She got you all into this mess in the first place! How can you possibly-"

A loud gunshot sounded and the tormented girl crumpled. Tony and Kate both lunged forward, desperate to snatch up the trigger before it hit the ground and the whole building went up in flames. Both of their hands closed around the device at the same time, and they breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief.

"Sorry if you wanted to do it yourself," Kate apologized, keeping her hands on his, "I couldn't stand to listen to her sarcastic ass any longer."

"It's fine, you deserved that." A soft smile played at Tony's lips as Kate's hazel eyes met his emerald ones. He leaned in, and Kate felt his hot breath on her lips as he murmured, "You did good."

Smirking, she allowed him to move in closer, and chuckled as their lip brushed when she began to reply, whispering, "Wow. I thought I'd die before I ever heard a compli-"

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Kate was cut off as the device clutched in her right hand began letting off the same sound, over and over again, as if it was… counting?

Tony stiffened in fear as they both snapped their eyes to the trigger, realisation dawning on them instantly.

What they saw was what caused them both to dash out of the room, screaming to Gibbs and the others at the top of their lungs: "GUYS GET OUT! WE NEED TO GO RIGHT NOW! WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME!"

 _This device will self destruct in 30…29…28…_

* * *

 **A/N: It has been over 2 months since I updated this story! I'm so sorry! Schoolwork has been waying me down along with other things, but I'm back now! Stick around for more,  
**

 **Louise :)**


	12. 30 Seconds

**30 seconds to go: Floor 5.**

Tony didn't think he'd ever run as fast in his life as he did at this moment. He and Kate pelted at full speed down the corridor, screaming at the tops of their lungs to their teammates that they needed to get out of the building. Footsteps echoed below them, and they knew that Gibbs, Ziva and McGee had got the message. They were struggling, as neither of them had participated in this much intense exercise for a while, but they couldn't stop.

They were _dead_ if they stopped.

 **25 seconds to go: Floor 4.**

Kate dragged Tony off the bottom step onto floor 4, somehow managing to take the lead even though they were both running as fast as humanly possible. To be truthful, she had no idea how much time they had left: they had ditched the timer back on floor 5. All she knew was that it wasn't much, and she had doubts in her mind that they were going to make it, especially with their lack of physical shape. Their only way of getting out was just to keep running.

Just keep running.

 **20 seconds to go: Floor 3.**

By now, Tony was sure that their teammates were out of the building. He wasn't going to question how they had done it so quickly- it was relieving, but he couldn't say the same for them. Tony's muscles were tiring, and he knew Kate's were doing the same. However, they kept the pace up, not wanting to waste any time.

Suddenly, a loud beeping sound erupted from the hallway speakers; even but continuous. The lights were flashing up and down- emitting bright red light that radiated down onto them. It was basically like a warning alarm or evacuation bell, but they both knew what it was: their countdown.

And it was ending fast.

 **15 seconds to go: Floor 2.**

The ground floor was fast approaching, and it was now that they were truly suffering. Tony stumbled twice as he came off the stairs; Kate coughed violently as her tired lungs struggled to keep up with the amount of oxygen required. It was physically paining them to maintain their pace: their muscles were burning and the blood being pumped through their bodies felt like fire.

"We're not going to make it Tony," Kate spluttered, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"We will."

 **10 seconds to go: Floor 1.**

10 seconds.

The number spun around and around inside of Tony's skull, adding to his already thumping headache, the beeping of the alarm making him want to rip his ear drums out.

Somehow, they cleared this floor in only 3 seconds.

 **7 seconds to go: Ground Floor.**

Kate raced down the lobby stairs, wrenching Tony by the arm right down behind her.

 **6 seconds.**

The pair dashed for the main door, their exit to safety right in front of their noses.

 **5 seconds.**

Tony lunged for the door handle, pulling at it to open it.

It didn't budge.

They shared a horrified glance.

 **4.**

"No." Kate gasped.

Kate also grasped the handle, and they pulled against the door with force.

Their combined weight should've been enough to open it.

But it wasn't.

 **3.**

Over the din of the ringing alarm, the shouts of Gibbs, Ziva and McGee could be heard outside as they realised that their teammates weren't out of the doomed building yet.

 **2.**

Kate pressed her lips against Tony's hastily, any last hope of getting out gone. She was going to die- for real this time.

At least this time, she was not alone.

"I love you." Tony murmured.

 **1.**

Tony wrapped his arms tightly around Kate to shield her from the coming blast, his eyes screwed shut, nose buried in her hair.

 **0.**

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

BOOM.

* * *

 **A/N: I've been gone for months, I apologize. I have no real excuse for being gone, I was truly too lazy to upload.  
**

 **Once I am done with this story, hopefully I will be more motivated.**

 **Louise :)**


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